I say that with love. Most owners I talk to are excellent at the work. They started as the best tradesperson they knew, and one day they were the boss. Now they are the one answering the phone, sending the quotes, and chasing the invoices, usually from the truck.
Meanwhile, some other company keeps getting the customers who start their search online. Usually it is not because their work is better.
None of these is complicated. But I want to be honest about who this page is for. It is for owners who want to grow, who would like to step out of the truck at some point and run the business instead of every job. If you are happy exactly where you are, that is a perfectly good way to live, and this may not be for you.
Everything below is free, and it is written so you can use it without ever talking to me.
Someone who needs a service done rarely contacts just one company. They contact two or three. The one that replies first, and sounds like it knows the work, usually gets the job.
Think about a restaurant that let the phone ring through the dinner rush. It would be out of business within a month. Most service companies do the equivalent all day long and call it being busy.
The most successful companies have made sure that a new inquiry gets an answer within minutes. Not tomorrow. Not after the job is done. That includes the call that comes in while they are under a house or up a ladder, and the form that gets filled in at 9pm on a Sunday.
Someone is always answering, whether it is a person or a system, and the customer hears back before they have finished their coffee or started calling the next company.
For example, say 20 people a week reach out by call, text or form. The owner is on a job and gets back to 14 in time. Six went to the next company on their list. If just three of those six would have booked at an average of $1,500, that is $4,500 a week walking out the door.
Three rules to start with
1. If you can answer live, do.
2. If you cannot, every missed call gets a text within five minutes.
3. Anything that comes in after hours gets a reply before 8am.
Set up an automatic text for calls you cannot pick up:
Hi, this is [Name] with [Company]. Sorry I missed you, I am on a job right now. What can I help you with? I will call you back as soon as I can, or text me here.
Then look at your last ten missed calls and see how long each one waited. If the honest answer is hours, you have found your first fix
Here is a painful one. Most quotes that never close did not get a no. They got silence. The customer got busy, and the owner did not want to seem pushy.
A friendly follow-up is not pushy. It is service. And it is the cheapest sales work you will ever do, because the customer already asked you for a price.
The most successful companies do it every time, on a schedule, without having to remember. Here is a simple three-touch version:
Day 2
Hi [Name], it is [Name] from [Company]. Just checking in on the quote I sent over. Any questions I can answer?
Day 5
Hi [Name], I know these decisions take time. If anything in the quote was unclear, or if you would like me to adjust the scope, I am happy to.
Day 10
Hi [Name], I do not want to keep pinging you. Should I keep the quote open, or is now not the right time? Either answer is fine.
That last one works surprisingly often, because it makes it easy to say "actually, yes, let's
do it."
Start with every quote from the last 60 days that never got an answer. Send them the day 5 message today.
Think of the last time you found money in an old coat pocket. That is what your customer list is. Every name in it already knows you, and most have not heard from you in a year.
They fall into four groups, and each one calls for a slightly different message:
Past customers. Ask how the work is holding up, and whether there is anything else they have been meaning to get to.
Quotes that went quiet. Ask if anything has changed, and whether you should hold the price.
Appointments that got canceled or missed. Ask if they still want to get it on the calendar.
Old inquiries. Ask if they ever got the job handled.
For example, say you have 1,000 past contacts. If 3% respond and book at an average of $5,000 that is $150,000 from one round of messages, with no advertising spend.
The percentage will differ. The point is that the list is worth something.
Try this week
Export your customer list. Text 25 people from the last two years:
Hi [Name], it is [Name] from [Company]. It has been a while since we did your [job]. Want me to swing by and make sure everything is still working great? No charge to look.
Watch how many reply. Most owners are surprised.
People form an opinion about a company before they ever call it. If a customer has seen your name three times, in an ad, on a neighbor's recommendation and in a review, you are already the obvious choice before the conversation starts.
The most successful companies are not just good. They are visible in the same area, over and over, with the same message, so that when the need comes up, their name is the first one that comes to mind.
Here is a simple way to think about it. Fill in this sentence:
We are the [service] company in [area] that [the one thing customers always say about us].
If you cannot finish it, neither can your customers. And a company that is the obvious name
for one thing beats a company that is one of many for everything.
Then the habits:
Show finished work in the neighborhoods you serve. Before and after photos and short videos beat a list of services.
Ask for a review while the customer is still delighted, ideally before you leave the driveway.
Stay in front of the people who send you work: past customers, neighbors and local partners.
Keep showing up. Visibility that stops the moment the calendar fills is visibility that starts over.
Try this week
Send every finished customer this message the same day:
Thanks again, [Name]. If you were happy with the work, would you mind leaving a quick review? It really helps a small business like ours. Here is the link: [link]
Look at those four together. The first three are about not losing the people who already found you. The fourth is about making sure more of them find you in the first place.
And here is the part most owners miss. Your business is probably in better shape than it feels. Usually one stage of the process is leaking, and it is often a single, glaringly obvious thing. You just cannot see it from inside the truck.
Your numbers, in one place
Write these down. If you do not know them, you are successful in spite of yourself, which is not an insult. It means talent and hard work got you here. You will just do better when you know the numbers.
New inquiries per week (calls, texts, forms) ______
How many you reached within an hour ______
Quotes sent, and how many got a follow-up ______
Past customers contacted in the last 12 months ______
Appointments booked and how many showed up ______
Jobs won ______
Average job value, and what you keep after costs ______
I do not work with everybody. I work with a small number of owners.
You are probably who I can help if:
You were the best tradesperson you knew, and somewhere along the way you became the boss, the scheduler, the bookkeeper and the person answering the phone from the truck.
The work is steady and the business makes money. You are not desperate. You are ready for more.
You would rather have five great customers than fifty tire-kickers.
You have room to take on more work, and you already know what a great customer looks like.
You show up and you follow through, and you would rather be in the conversation than hand it off.
You think of your business as something you are building, not just a job you have.
If you read that and thought "that is me," we should talk.
I will not pitch you. I will ask where you want the business to be 12 months from now, and what would need to have happened for you to be happy with how the business is doing.
Then I will ask where you are today, and we will build a plan together, using your own numbers.
At the end, if it makes sense for me to help you carry it out, I will ask. If it does not, I will tell you that too.
(Results like these are not typical and are not a promise of what you’ll do. They’re examples of what happens in businesses that already have assets and real momentum.)